Gerhard BraunGerhard Braun is Professor of Urban Studies and Head of the Urban Studies Group in the Institute ofGeographical Sciences at Freie Universität, Berlin. He was Vice President (Academic) of the Universität for fouryears, and is President of the International Geographical Union’s Commission on ‘Monitoring Cities of Tomorrow’.Professor Braun’s research addresses intra- and inter-urban systems, governance, migration, and socialsegregation. He has conducted urban research in Canada, USA, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, England, Japan,and China, and has provided consulting services to organizations including Daimler and GIZ, the GermanDevelopment Corporation.

David DowallDavid Dowall is Professor of City Planning at the University of California (Berkeley). He was Director of theInstitute of Urban and Regional Development (IURD) from 2004 to 2008, and has worked with IURD sincejoining the Berkeley faculty in 1976. Internationally, Professor Dowall has carried out policy research anddesigned technical and financial assistance strategies for cities and regions in more than 40 countries for theWorld Bank and a wide range of international and national agencies.

Om Prakash MathurOm Prakash Mathur is Principal Consultant and Professor of Urban Economics and Finance at the NationalInstitute of Public Finance and Policy in New Delhi. Professor Mathur was previously Director of the NationalInstitute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi; senior economic planner at the United Nations Center for RegionalDevelopment, Nagoya; and UN senior regional planning advisor to Iran. He is currently a member of the FinanceCommission of Delhi and Punjab, and a member of the Planning Board of the Government of the NationalCapital Territory of Delhi.

Patricia McCarneyPatricia McCarney is the Founding Director of the Global Cities Program at the Munk School of Global Affairs,University of Toronto. Before joining the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, ProfessorMcCarney was a professional staff member at the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa,the World Bank, and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS Habitat) in Nairobi. She hasworked in more than 30 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Dr. McCarney’s research and professionalwork focuses on global cities, governance, climate change, urban management, poverty and shelter.

George E. PetersonGeorge E. Peterson is retired Senior Fellow in International Public Finance from the Urban Institute, Washington,DC. Prior to that, he was Director of the Urban Institute’s Public Finance Center for 10 years. Dr. Petersonhas written widely and advised more than 40 developing countries on national and sub-national tax policy,intergovernmental grants, infrastructure finance, capital budgeting, development of local credit markets,unlocking land values to finance infrastructure investment, and urban housing finance. He has workedextensively in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia, including in China and India.

Rémy Prud’hommeRémy Prud’homme has been Professor of Economics at the University of Phnom-Penh, l’Université Lille, and,since 1997, at l’Université Paris XII where he is now Professor Emeritus. He was also Visiting Professor at MIT(1982–83, 1988–89, 1998, 2002). Dr. Prud’homme worked for several years with the OECD as Deputy Directorof the Environment Directorate. His main interests are in public finance and in transportation economics. Dr.Prud’homme has been a frequent consultant to a number of governments, enterprises, and internationalorganizations, particularly the World Bank (where he was invited as a Visiting Research Scholar), the EuropeanUnion, the OECD, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Ingrid StefanovicIngrid Stefanovic was the founding Director of the Centre for Environment and is a Professor of Philosophyat the University of Toronto. She has served as Executive Co-Director of the International Association forEnvironmental Philosophy, Chair of the United Nations University Toronto Regional Centre of Expertise,and Co-Chair of the Environmental and Architectural Phenomenology Network at the Environmental DesignResearch Association. Her research and publications cover themes ranging from megalopolitan trendsand environmental conditions in the Canadian Great Lakes to the philosophy of architecture and children’sperceptions of urban nature.

Richard StrenRichard Stren is Professor of Political Science and the former Director of the Centre for Urban and CommunityStudies at the University of Toronto. He is a specialist in the field of local and metropolitan governance. Overthe years he has led several large, urban research projects examining infrastructure and governance issues inCanada, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Professor Stren served as a chief planning officer for urbandevelopment in Tanzania and later coordinated several projects to study Africa’s crisis in urban infrastructureand services. He has worked as a consultant for USAID, the World Bank, SIDA, UN-Habitat and otherinternational agencies. He has written or edited 18 books, and over 80 articles and book chapters on issuesrelating to comparative urban development.

Wang YizhiWang Yizhi is a regional economist and Director of the Information Institute at the Shanghai Academy of SocialSciences (SHASS). He has worked extensively on the post-industrial transformation of metropolitan regions inChina and on regional innovation policy. Dr. Wang is a senior advisor to the Shanghai government on industrialinnovation and clustering strategies, and has led SHASS teams on economic development assignments acrossChina. In collaborative projects with Chreod, he led SHASS teams in the preparation of the Hebei ProvincialDevelopment Strategy and the recent Global City Strategy for Shanghai.